The resurrection of a promise
by Travis Combs
The Metropolitan

Photo by - Joshua Lawton Dean of Language Arts and Sciences Joan Foster introduces keynote speaker Dr. Oscar Joseph, center, as Marsha Mallory-Bennett looks on for the Twentieth Black World Conference in Tivoli room 320 on Feb. 4.

Stating that no apologies would be given for what he was about to say at the Twentieth Black World Conference, keynote speaker, Dr. Oscar Joseph, a native of Denver, said the members of the African American  communities have lost the promise to both themselves and each other.

“Somewhere along the way we lost the promise,” said Joseph, whose address: “The Soul of Black Folk” was held in room 320 of the Tivoli Building, Feb. 4th.

“The promise to support and encourage each other, the promise to embrace our young people, to come back and have a place for them to serve.”

Joseph spoke on theories proposed by scholar, activist and pan-Africanist, W.E.B. DuBois, who wrote, The Souls of Black Folk, in the early part of the twentieth century.

“Within the African American culture there, was this group that would go out and learn and educate themselves and bring back that knowledge,” said Joseph, who received his Bachelors degree in Education from Northwestern University and his Ph.D. in Education from the University of Illinois. “Not everyone can go to Harvard. Not everyone can go to Jackson State Mississippi (or) Northwestern University, but there is a group within us that must go out and educate and learn everything you can learn and bring it back to the community.”

Emphasizing the need to bring useful tools and knowledge back home (on both a familial  and a societal level) in order to raise the overall condition of African American communities, Joseph explained the need to regain a sense of connection within these communities.

“The souls of black folk, disconnected, troubled, disenfranchised, looking for leadership,” said Joseph. “The souls of black folk struggle for economic prosperity, to stand and be counted, to be encouraged, to be acknowledged, to be honored.”

Joseph also spoke of his own personal account of being a first generation college graduate and the rewards and responsibilities that came from that position.

In his own life, Joseph felt the call of duty to come back home to his childhood home of Montebello. Coming to realization of a promise he had yet to fulfill, he left his teaching career in Chicago and came back to Colorado, where he now holds the position of a Professor of Education at the University of Colorado at Denver.

“It felt like something was missing, something was still urging me, something that was waking me up in the morning and saying this is not your home, don’t get too comfortable, you need to go,” said Joseph. “I believe in the preservation of my society and nation, so I had to do it. Somebody had to go. The promise I had made. The promise I would come home.”

According to Joseph, the transference of his knowledge to the members of his community would enable the continuation of African American society to future generations.

“We lost the promise, go home son”, said Joseph, paraphrasing his father. “Go home and bring back what you have learned so we can survive for another 300, 400, 500 years.”

Joseph embellished the idea that betterment of African American communities as a whole, rests within individuals within those communities to take personal responsibility for the of both their own life as well as those of their loved ones.

“It’s in your hands alone,” said Joseph. “It is in your hands to resurrect the promise. You promised yourself you’d get an education. Get that. You promised you take care of your little brothers and sisters. Do that. You promised to do whatever it takes to be one mind, body and spirit.”
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Metro student Anthony Deland was seen on campus last week with a black gunnysack over his head, hands tied behind his back, sitting cross-legged on a straw mat in the middle of the Metro student art gallery.

Deland exhibited his paintings of Genocide victims in the gallery to fulfill the requirements of his Fine Arts major, and to raise public awareness of human rights.

“Forgotten people minimized in our society, need a medium of representation. Art has become this medium, a voice for the forgotten,” said Deland in his Artist’s Statement.  He hopes his work and activism will cause change and be “a voice for the voiceless.”

All of Deland’s paintings have stark, gray backgrounds with victims painted in bright red, making the images more powerful, according to Deland.

“I wanted it to be about these victims,” he said of his work, which is based on found images of ethnic cleansing from all over the world.

All BFA majors exhibit their work before they graduate, and Deland wanted to go beyond just showing his work. On the last day of the show he decided to prove to himself and others just how far his devotion to human rights goes.

For more than six hours, he was tied up in the gallery.

“I think he finds it really important to take a day out of his life to experience that, because to him it’s not that much of a sacrifice,” said Metro student Shannon Webber. “It’s just to understand that this is a reality.”

Webber and Deland are members of Amnesty International, which has a chapter on campus.

Deland and all students graduating with a BFA degree rather than a BA, show their work at the gallery in order to gain experience, and to have an oral critique by a faculty committee, said to Jennifer Garner, who teaches the class for the BFA thesis exhibitions.

At least one or more students show their work each week of every semester.

Photo by - Joshua Lawton Metro art student Anthony Deland sits with his hands bound in his senior thesis display in the Metro art gallery in the Arts Building Feb. 7. The showing was sponsored in part by Amnesty International.

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Go Speed Racer
by Elena Brown
The Metropolitan

Racer 116 was excited and nervous. You could hear it in his voice. But you also heard confidence. You knew he was ready; but more importantly, he knew.

“Yeah, I think I’m ready for it,” he said.

Last  year he was in the Intermediate/Advanced category. This year he has moved up to the top status: Elite.

But just because you’ve trained, gotten better, and in your gut you know you’re ready- doesn’t mean ‘It’ is ready for you.

He is Alton Clark, the assistant director at Metro State’s Veterans’ Upward Bound program and an advisor for Metro’s Black Student Alliance

Alton Clark

“It” is the 2003 Expert/Elite Giant Solomon qualifying race held at Whistler-Backcomb Mountain in Canada.

“I’m just trying to get down here without dying,” he said, jokingly.

Clark, 52, a Colorado native and Metro graduate, was disqualified in his first run. And though he lost a ski on the course, he never lost his smile.

“Hey, maybe God’s trying to tell me something,” he said.

Clark began skiing in 1968, and for more than a decade he has been an active member of the Colorado-based, Sippers-N-Sliders ski club. Last year he moved up from the Intermediate/Advance to Elite racer for The National Brotherhood of Skiers (a.k.a. the Black Ski Summit).

The goal of the NBS is to develop and place a minority on the Olympic team. The Chicago-based organization, founded in 1973 by Ben Finley and Art Clay, now has 84 clubs in 73 cities. The NBS held its 30th anniversary Feb. 1 - 8 in Whistler, Canada. The bi-annual event is filled with races, dances, an outdoor picnic and themed parties. Over 3,000 registered members attended the summit.

Despite the outcome of this year race, Clark still enjoys racing and skiing.

“At least I’m alive!” He shouted on his way to his final run.
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Ancient Sounds
Story by Jonelle Wilkenson Seitz
Photos by Joshua Lawton
The Metropolitan

A nearly full capacity crowd attends the Festival of Japanese Music presented by Music at Metro's Artist Series in the King Center Recital Hall. Yoko Hiraoka, left, and David Wheeler played music, as well as explained aspects of the culture and music to the audience.

David Wheeler, who will be featured in this month’s Music at Metro’s Artist Series, believes that breadth of experience is essential in appreciating and understanding classical Japanese music.

Yoko Hiraoka sings and plays a shamisen, a form of a lute, during a performance in the King Center Recital Hall Feb. 10. The song Tsuru no koe (A call of the Crane) is an ancient poem of love.

The three types of events that make up this month’s series of classical Japanese music reflect this philosophy.

“We felt a need to break out of the ‘academic’ approach,” Wheeler said of himself and his partner in the series, Yoko Hiraoka.

The series includes hands-on workshops, a lecture-demonstration and a recital.  The workshops and lecture-demonstration were held on Feb. 10, and the Artist Series recital, An Evening with Japanese Music, is scheduled for Feb. 20.

Wheeler has studied Japanese music since 1977.  He earned a master’s degree in musicology from the Tokyo University of Fine Arts and Music in 1985.  Hiraoka owns the Koto Music Institute of Colorado and has taught at Naropa University and the University of Colorado at Boulder.  Both Wheeler and Hiraoka have performed extensively in the United States and Japan. 

Wheeler and Hiraoka shared their expertise and experience directly with students who participated in the workshops.  The artists gave group lessons on the basics of two traditional instruments, which they brought with them for the students to use.  Each student chose to learn to play either the shamisen, a lute with three strings, or the shakuhachi, a bamboo flute. 

David Wheeler plays the shakuhachi, similar to a flute, with traditional accessories of a Komuso, a monk of emptiness. Wheeler has been learning about Japanese culture and music for 25 years.

Wheeler notes that although the workshops and lecture-demonstration are a good way to introduce people to the basics of a foreign music, he and Hiraoka believe that a more complete approach allows

for a stronger connection with their audiences.  Wheeler and Hiraoka expect that the recital, which will feature them performing classical works from the Noh theater tradition, will be the final step in making that connection.

Noh theater is a highly-stylized performance genre that incorporates elements of dance, drama, music and poetry.  It developed into its present form during the 14th and 15th centuries.  The recital will feature elements of a Noh play by the prolific playwright Zeami (b. 1363).  While the Artist Series is focused on music, it is the theatrical element of the performance that motivates the Wheeler and Hiraoka in their quest to share their art.  Wheeler notes that the theatrical element of Noh theater allows the audience to leave the academic world for the world of the drama onstage. 

“In this altered context, the audience can experience and appreciate unfamiliar music with a more welcoming mindset,” Wheeler said.

Wheeler and Hiraoka will perform An Evening of Japanese Music on Thursday, Feb. 20, at the Recital Hall in the King Center at 7:30p.m.  Tickets are free for Metro students, $5 for other students and seniors, and $10 for everyone else.

The hands of Yoko Hiraoka strum the strings of a traditional Japanese instrument, called a koto, to play the song Chidori no kyoku (Song of Plovers).

David Wheeler talks with students about reading music in Japanese after the performance in the King Center Recital Hall. Wheeler and Hiraoka will perform in the Recital Hall for An Evening of Japanese Music Feb. 20, at 7:30 p.m.

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